Impacts of American tariffs starting

Jeff Helsdon, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The impact of tariffs launched by U.S. President Donald Trump are starting to surface in Tillsonburg.

Trump has been upfront in saying he is trying to have industries relocate their plants to American soil. This is on top of programs at state and local levels to attract industry.

“The thing that concerns me is some of the incentives the U.S. is offering to convince people to locate there,” said Tillsonburg Mayor Deb Gilvesy, citing reduced regulations, tax incentives and green card incentives. “Regulations continue to be a hang-up.”

Although the prime minister dropped consumer carbon taxes, the latest was carbon taxes would be implemented at the manufacturer level.

“If you’re competing against a country that doesn’t have those taxes, how do you compete,” Gilvesy said. “We need tools in the toolbox.”

On the retail front, Tillsonburg Business Improvement Association is taking part in the Shop Main Street Canada campaign. This is intended to recognize the importance of buying Canadian.

“It’s become clear Canadians are rallying behind the concept of shop local and buying Canadian so the whole tariff discussion is having an impact,” said BIA Executive Director Mark Renaud.

The movement may have many nuances. Renaud questioned if retailers who previously purchased U.S.-manufactured goods will be stuck with them, and forced to sell at a discount. Although it’s yet to have a huge impact, the large connection to automotive in Tillsonburg industry could result in layoffs, which may impact retail spending in the long term. On the positive side, Renaud did mention the town’s burgeoning food sector, citing Modhani, Shaw’s Ice Cream and Tillsonburg Commercial Foods as examples of diversification.

Tyler Wood, vice-president of business development for Marwood International Inc., reported sales were unchanged since steel and aluminum tariffs came into effect on March 12.

“That being said, we have spent a lot of administrative labour hours working through clerical updates for customs clearance to identify whether or not the finished good is made out of steel, aluminum, or both,” he said.

Wood said Canadian retaliatory tariffs on steel are the largest impact to the bottom line of the company. The company had to absorb these costs and Wood is hopeful there will be an avenue for a program to claim this back through the government.

The potential for the situation to get worse lingers with the threat of 25 per cent tariff on all goods, including automotive.

“This would likely be catastrophic and send the globe into an almost instant recession,” he said. “This is also likely why our sales are currently holding strong despite the steel and aluminum tariffs already being in place, because although that is bad and not sustainable long term, it is not catastrophic in the short term and customers are likely building ahead in anticipation of a potential industry-wide significant slowdown or outright shut down in early/mid-April if things don’t change.”

Impacts of Canadians not travelling to the U.S. were evident through reduced passenger vehicle traffic at the border at the onset of March Break. Kim Oliver, manager of Maritime Travel in Tillsonburg, said it’s early to see how things will play out as far as bookings for American trips.

“Very few have cancelled or rebooked their vacation plans,” she said, adding, “The majority of travelers during spring, summer and fall focus on Europe.”